SCOTTISH pioneers are responsible for bringing the game of football to the Brazilians but who should get the credit? Charles Miller or Thomas Donohoe?

AMID the fervent conflict on the fields of play across Brazil, another battle rages between the country’s biggest cities.

Both Rio and Sao Paulo lay claim to being the birthplace of football in the land where the beautiful game is played in its most sublime form.

And despite Scotland failing once more to reach the World Cup finals, this is one battle the Tartan Army is sure to win.

Supporters of Charles Miller, the champion of Sao Paulo, and Thomas Donohoe, representing Rio, lay claim to bringing football to Brazil.

Miller has long been loudly hailed as the founding father and is a household name among Brazilian football fans.

But in recent months a clamour has arisen from Rio in defence of Donohoe, a textile factory worker from Busby, near Glasgow, who organised a football match in the Bangu district of Rio in 1894.

Donohoe’s case was previously unheard of outside Bangu before last year but local people have intensified their mission to have his achievements enshrined in the country’s history books.

The bronze statue of Donohue.

In November last year, an impressive 15ft bronze statue was erected in the car park of Bangu’s shopping centre in Donohoe’s memory.

That has provoked a heated response from the ancestors of Miller, who was born to a Scottish father in Sao Paulo in 1874 and who organised a famous match between the Sao Paolo Railway Company and the Gas Company on April 14, 1895.

The crux of the argument is that Miller brought an organised and structured version of the game, which led to the formation of clubs, rather than a more ad-hoc kickabout, which Miller’s supporters claim is all Donohoe’s contribution amounted to. The Daily Record tracked down the three grandchildren of Miller – Charles Miller Junior, Therezinha Burt Miller and Vera Miller – all of whom are proud of their Scottish roots and who fiercely defend his place in history.

Charles, a 58-year-old advertising executive, has never been to Scotland but still feels the Scottish blood in his veins.

He dismissed Donohoe’s claims, saying: “We do not see him as a rival.

“My grandfather taught how to play with the rules and was chief organiser of the first football league in Sao Paulo.

“Thomas Donohoe did not do any of this. I am very proud of what my grandfather did, as he brought a lot of smiles to many Brazilians.

“I have Scottish blood running in my veins, as my great grandfather was born in Scotland, so I am very happy to know that people in Scotland are watching the World Cup with such interest.

“We are connected to football as fervent fans of the beautiful game.

“I have only been in the UK once, when I went to England in 1975 for a holiday.

“I know that Scottish people are very proud to be connected to the birth of football in Brazil, where the game is played in such a beautiful way.

“I think this is very good and have always been interested in this fact.” Charles still manages to compete, despite his age. He said: “I have always played football and still do, with my friends, as an amateur.”

Charles fancies Brazil to come up trumps in the World Cup despite a shaky start.

He said: “We put Brazil as one of the favourites, as the cup will be played on our home soil but we have many good opponents and we have to respect them.

“I thought England would do well with their young team and hoped they might progress.

“I had been cheering for them as well as Brazil.”

Sister Therezinha, who has visited Scotland several times, echoed his family pride.

She said: “I’m very proud that my grandfather is recognised as the father of Brazilian football.

“We simply don’t see Thomas Donohoe as a rival. How can they compare a kickaround with implanting association football in Brazil?

“I have a very soft spot for Scotland due to our Scottish connection but we always cheer for Brazil.

“It is very important to our family that the game is played fairly, as our grandfather taught us.”

Vera, who is in her 70s and a grandmother, also kicked Donohoe’s claims into touch.

She said: “It was my grandfather who brought football to Brazil. That claim is not correct, as it was just kickarounds.

“I don’t see Thomas Donohoe as any kind of rival. A kickabout is a kickabout.”

Miller's Claim

Charles Miller is thought to have brought passion for the game to Brazil

BORN in Sao Paulo in 1874, the son of a Scottish railway engineer and his Brazilian-born wife, Charles Miller was sent back to the UK to boarding school in Southampton at the age of 10.

A great football talent, he went on to be picked for St Mary’s FC (now Southampton).

Ten years after arriving in England, he decided to return to Brazil.

In his luggage he packed two footballs and a book containing the 13 rules of association football – the manuscript that his followers claim sets his apart from any “kickabout” football.

The match he organised, on April 14, 1895, between the workers of the Sao Paulo Railway and those of the Gas Company, all of whom were British, is widely considered to be the first football match to have been played in Brazil.

Miller was instrumental in setting up the football team of the Sao Paulo Athletic Club and the Liga Paulista, the first football league in Brazil.

With him as the team’s striker, SPAC won the first three championships in 1902, 1903 and 1904.

Donohue's Claim

Thomas Donohoe has been credited for bringing a more formal tough to the game.

THOMAS Donohoe was born in Busby, near Glasgow, in 1863, the same year the first Football Association was founded in London.

Aged 10, Donohoe followed his father into the print works, working as a dyer.

He later sailed to Rio when the opportunity to become a master dyer at a new textile factory arose.

He set up the “kickabout” matches beside the textile factory after writing to his wife, Elizabeth, asking her to join him and to bring a football as well as their children.

Shortly after her arrival in September 1894, the first football match in Brazil took place in the field beside the textile factory.

The game, a six-a-side match between British workers, took place eight months before Charles Miller’s game.

Some historians in Rio believe that Donohoe brought a more formal version of the game than he has been credited with up to now.

The Verdict

Scottish FA historian Richard McBrearty has both Scottish pioneers down for a score draw.

He explained: “The argument may never be won because both men were from very different backgrounds and they both laid very important foundations at a similar time in Brazilian history.

“Charles Miller was from an affluent family and he was also educated and very well connected in Sao Paulo society.

“He had the means to create the bigger structures that he is credited with.

“But Donohoe, in my opinion, is hugely important too because Brazilian society was segregated along racial lines back in the 1890s, indeed slavery had only been abolished in 1888.

“Donohoe opened the door to enable black workers to play the same game as white workers, which was not happening in Sao Paulo at the time. “So I’d like to think that these two Scottish pioneers should be appreciated for making their own mark in history.”